Invisible
by JLaLa
Summary: Harry and Ginny both want to be invisible to the world. But a chance encounter leads them to discover that they were never invisible to each other...written for the SIYE Summer 2005 challenge


All characters belong to J.K. Rowling.

Invisible

By JLaLa

Bill Weasley walked tiredly up the stairs of his old home. The family had gathered for a family dinner and was about to begin when he noticed the absence of his youngest and only female sibling. Molly Weasley had informed him of the fight between Ron and Ginny. After giving him a stern glare at his brother, he went to get his sister.

As the youngest, Ginny has always gotten the most grief. But it was only for her own protection. However, as the war came steadily approaching, he realized that he might not always be there to protect Ginny. She never wanted to be protected anyways and he could clearly see the signs of their own strong-willed mother in her.

The last time he saw her he was surprised. The little girl in braids was gone and replaced with a rather tall young woman. Her eyes seemed to be sparkling with the curiousness that all girls get when there at the threshold of womanhood. He also noticed that her eyes seem to glaze over when someone came into her view.

Harry Potter.

He knew of his sister's feelings for the young man. Bill also knew that this Dean-whoever would sadly be cast aside if Harry showed an ounce of something for Ginny. But who knew when that would be?

Harry had his own problems to deal with.

Bill met up with Charlie, at the top of the stairs. "Where are you heading?"

"Get Gin," Bill replied. "Ron is on her back about some guy name Dean."

"Poor girl," Charlie said with a wry laugh. "If only he wasn't so daft-"

"Ron or Harry?" He replied. Charlie was also aware of his sister's feelings and couldn't be happier.

"Both—" Bill opened the door to find an exhausted looking Harry Potter asleep in his sister's bed. They stood in the doorway for a moment trying to figure out the situation. Should they wake him up? Ginny seem to be nowhere in sight. Perhaps she was already downstairs. He could hear Charlie's heavy breathing beside him. "What do we do?"

They thought for a moment when Charlie closed the door. "Let him sleep. He has a lot ahead of him and if he starts dating our sister than he'll have us chasing after him…"

Both of them descended down the stairs to let Ginny know that her secret was safe with them.

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There were many times when Harry Potter wished to be invisible. For example, being watched like a hawk by awed students was one of them. He had accepted the fact that he had a great destiny but he didn't think that his destiny meant having a fan club. He wished he was invisible each time his boorish uncle was angry. The sound of his yelling made him cringe inside. Lately Harry had become more skittish—

He looked out the window and sighed to himself.

And he wished he had been invisible when Sirius died. Harry closed his eyes remembering the look on Sirius's face right before he fell through the Veil. If he had been invisible perhaps he could've done what he really wanted to do.

Jump in after him.

Harry was tired. Tired of being watch and prodded, made to feel emotionless as the world waited for him to fulfill his destiny. Outside the night air was warm and the sky clear enough to see every star in its navy blanket. He just wanted to be out. Opening the window, he inhaled. This night was not made for sleep. Without another thought, he grabbed his broom and invisibility cloak and hoped that for once no one would notice him.

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"For goodness sakes, Ron!" Ginny Weasley shouted as she set the table. Her brothers were expected for dinner tonight and she was trying to keep herself breaking a plate over her git of a brother's head. "Please do not bother me about Dean…he is none of YOUR business!"

Ron Weasley was never one to stop himself from speaking out of line. "I just wanted to make sure he knows his limits!" She looked at him her face tomato red and Ron's expression softened. "Gin, I'm your brother and I love you. I just believe that no one is good enough for you…"

"Oh Ron," She said softly and put the last plate down. Going up to her brother, she embraced him and he patted her flaming red hair gently. Ron was never the one to make a declaration of feelings. "I'm going to write Dean. Call me when my other idiot brothers are here."

Ginny, for most of her life, didn't mind her brothers. But it seemed lately that she wish she was invisible to them like when she was a little girl wanting to join in. Suddenly it seemed like they wanted to know EVERYTHING. Dean and Michael had open up their 'big brother senses' and suddenly they saw her as clear as day.

She wasn't their little sister. She had a figure and pretty red hair that was no longer in plaits. Ginny didn't whine or cry like a child but flirted to get her way. Sighing in resignation, she sat at her dresser and looked at herself in the mirror.

"I wish I was an invisible," She said quietly and removed her ponytail so that her long hair could be free.

"Why?"

She turned to see the one and only Harry Potter sitting on her bed grinning at her. His broom lay against her wall and she looked to the open window. Ginny got up to close the window and then whipped around giving him a hard glare. "Are you insane? You could've been killed or captured…or something! Why are you here?"

"I couldn't sleep," He replied simply watching her seething figure.

"That's no excuse," She said quietly and then sat next to him. Harry smiled softly at her but she could see the sadness in his eyes. No one wanted to be in his shoes, alone in that house with his negligent relatives. Sirius had been Harry's only hope for a real home. "Are you alright?" Harry felt his throat dry up as he looked into her big brown eyes.

"You look different," Harry said softly. Indeed her hair seemed a prettier shade of red than Ron's and the way it framed her face in lovely waves made her look even more breathtaking. "A-Anyways, I could sleep because I just kept thinking of him. His face before he fell and I sat there looking out the window in Privet Drive feeling like everything I was feeling was as big as the house. It was like I couldn't breathe. I just wanted to be invisible for a moment—like you."

"I'm not a little girl," She said to him and tears sprung up. "No one seems to notice that I've grown up, I'm tired of being noticed for the wrong things!" Ginny wiped her eyes and Harry looked at her in empathy. "I know that you feel like that sometimes, you just want to be noticed for being Harry Potter, not 'The Boy Who Lived'. How would you like to be noticed for being just being someone's girl?" His heart seemed to be clench at the thought of Ginny as Dean Thomas's girl.

"I always noticed you," He said so quietly that he didn't think she heard but she turned to him. "Since the moment you stuck your elbow in the butter dish. It was an interesting start to a friendship-"

"Friendship?" Part of her felt happy but the other seemed befuddled with a huge array of something that felt like hurt, disappointment, and sadness for being referred as only a 'friend'. Harry turned to her with something in his eyes that made her heart was to leap from her chest.

"So you're official then?" He said after a strange moment of silence. "Dean's a pretty okay guy." He didn't fail to notice the strained in his voice at the thought of another boy taking his place.

But as what?

"I don't think so," Ginny said to him and she seemed to move a little closer to him. His arm had somehow magically placed around her small waist and Ginny's head was on his shoulder, her hair spilling against him. He noticed how perfect she fit in the crook of his neck. "He hasn't kissed me, so I can't accept." Ginny turned to him and Harry saw the fire in her eyes almost daring him to do it.

"Did you really give up on me?" He asked.

Harry didn't hear the answer because before he could stop himself, he pressed his lips against her soft ones. He didn't know when he had ever felt so alive. It was like he was on fire and Ginny seemed to be responding in earnest. After that short moment, or at least what Harry felt was short, they pulled apart.

They leaned their foreheads together as they both breathe heavily. Harry closed in his eyes for a moment as a small smile graced his face. Ginny felt herself trembling from the sheer force of feelings that were pulsating through her and she looked at Harry's calm face. They both knew what didn't need to be said. She always loved him.

"What now?" He whispered.

"We go back to being invisible to each other," Ginny replied after a long moment, her eyes bright with tears and Harry seemed to understand. They both knew that the war was approaching fast and heavy. Ginny didn't know where either of them would be in a year's time. Harry took her hands in his kissing them.

"You were never invisible to me," Harry murmured into her hands. He didn't know when he would next be able to touch her or kiss her. If he would even have a chance to make it official—

"I know," She said and their eyes met. The tears that been held in for so long now ran down her freckled face. Harry caressed her cheek and Ginny overwhelmed with the thought of not having Harry for awhile pulled him in for another kiss. When he released her, she was gasping for breath.

"Tomorrow, you're going to make it official with Dean," Harry instructed though he was it was breaking his heart. "I'll go back to pretending that I'm okay with it but you have to know—" He kissed her forehead. "—I love you." Ginny nodded slowly almost wishing that this moment could be erased from her mind.

But she knew it couldn't be erased from her heart. She would go on pretending to be Dean's girl and not noticing Harry. She would go on pretending that she wasn't petrified for his life and cared very little of her own life if something happen to him. Harry would go back to Privet Drive wallowing alone in self-pity for himself with only the small memory of tonight, when they had stopped being invisible to one another.

They held one another for a moment trying to believe that they might have a chance. Ginny knew better though. She wasn't as naïve as some of the girls in her year who believed that love always worked out.

Harry let out a small yawn and she giggled. He didn't realize that he was so exhausted. With everything that happened, the fatigue had finally caught up with him.

Ginny pulled herself away. She turned away and lifted her blanket so that he could crawl in. Harry raised his eyebrows at her but didn't protest on crawling in. She covered him and then crawled in with him.

"Your brothers will kill me, you know. Especially since the whole lot is coming tonight," He told her. Ron would kill him and he could imagine himself returning to Privet Drive with a mangled face. Ginny sat up and then caught sight of the cloak that laid edge of her bed.

"Put this on," She replied and lay back down next to him wrapping her arms around him. "Than can't kill you if they can't see you…" Ginny closed her eyes settling next to him.

Ginny was surprised when Harry lifted the blanket away placing the invisibility cloak on her. "What are you doing?" He put the blanket back on her.

"You wanted to be invisible, right?" He said with a smile. "I'll risk the pummeling from your brothers." Harry yawned and his eyelids began to droop. Before his eyes closed he inhaled Ginny's scent, she smelt like flowers. She tightened her hold around him as he drifted off to sleep. Before he drifted to sleep, he thought he heard Ginny whispering to him.

"I love you Harry."

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Ginny open the door to her bedroom. She was twenty now and moving to her very own flat in London. Boxes were all labeled and ready for moving; Ron and Hermione (the new Mr. and Mrs. Weasley) would be coming tomorrow to help with the move. Sadly, Harry would not be there to join them. After the defeat of Voldemort, everyone's life had gone erratically in different directions. Hermione and Ron got married right after graduation. Her eldest brothers had married. Charlie's wife, Sharra (a muggle) was expecting a baby. Fleur was also expecting twins in the fall. Fred and George were in Tokyo expanding the business. Percy was gone…and she would start as apprentice Healer in St. Mungo's.

Harry disappeared after the wedding, writing occasionally to her mother letting her know that he was okay. She sat on her bed; they had both left that night buried in their memories. After her brothers came in, she had use Harry's broom to fly to the front door and joined them for dinner avoiding Bill and Charlie's gazes.

Ginny didn't even realize she was crying until she felt the tear hit her hands which were clasp together. She didn't understand why she was upset. All she knew that when she was in this room, all she could think of was HIM. They had still gone on pretending even after the war.

"Don't cry." A voice spoke in her ear. She turned to see Harry grinning and she couldn't help but smile back.

"Harry," She said and wiped her eyes. "What are you doing here?"

He sat next to her with something in his eyes. Ginny felt like she was fifteen again, her stomach in knots. Harry took her hand in his. He then slipped something on her finger.

"Making it official," Harry replied pulling her in for a kiss.

The end! Hate it? Like it? Let me know!


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